Omnes by Darden Studio is used for the control panels of Ashdown Engineering’s instrument amplifiers. Omnes’s crisp and straightforward contemporary design is contrasted with the nostalgic Streamline — a script inspired by mid-century chrome badges — for an identity that successfully mirrors state-of-the-art technology rooted in hand-crafted tradition.

Omnes is used for labeling knobs, sliders, dials and other control elements. Its clear shapes — for letters as well as numerals — guarantee unhampered readability, while the selectively rounded details add character.

Omnes in use on Ashdown Engineering’s website.

Magneto is a typeface inspired by chrome lettering affixed to consumer objects like cars and appliances. (In this case, the inspiration was a refrigerator, the Kelvinator. More about that connection in an upcoming Blog post.) So Magneto was a natural choice to represent Pixar’s Cars film and franchise. According to the book The Art of Cars (which also makes use of Magneto for headings) the logo design was completed in 2004 by:

Layout: Andy Dreyfus and Bob Pauley
Model: Andrew Schmidt
Shading: Thomas Jordan and Bob Moyer
Lighting: Jean-Claude Kalache

The logo is a modification of the font — with a circular stroke overlap in the ‘r’ and rounded top on the ‘s’ — but Magneto was clearly the model. The typeface is also used for localizations of the logo in other language markets, in titles and scenes in the film, and Cars-related merchandise and games.

Turkish movie poster.

1983 Chevy “Good Times Estate” Van.

Good Times, Inc. was a custom van (or “conversion”) company established in Texas sometime in the early 1970s and active until at least 1989. Their logo – also used in a variety of chrome badging – was based on Orbit. This face by Lettergraphics is very similar to Village, one of the Photo-Lettering designs from the 1968 Psychedelitypes series.

Getting there is half the fun, but getting there in a flurry of funky fun is even better. One way to get it on is in a Good Times, Inc., customized van. The work is done in a factory in Arlington and the 70-man assembly line turns them out at a 10-a-day clip.

“We sell every one we turn out and there’s a waiting list,” according to Billy Walker, president of the two-year-old company. At something like $7,250 a unit, that grosses close to $1 million.

The vans (Fords, Chevys or Dodge) are dolled up to suit the owner’s taste – anything from plush GT unit featuring carpeting, waterbeds, stereo, etc., to a sedate Stadium Van ideal for family outings. Or, you can do it yourself at a Walker subsidiary, Van World, where you can get any accessory. — D Magazine, Feb. 1975

1983 Chevy “Good Times Estate” Van.

1983 Chevy “Good Times Estate” Van.

Runnin Board on 1983 Chevy “Good Times Estate” Van in ITC Pioneer.

1977 Dodge “Good Times” Van.

Good Times, Inc. brochure.

Good Times, Inc. brochure.

1982 Good Times “Personalized Coaches” brochure.

Good Times “President” badges.

Good Times badges (closeup).

1977 Matador Barcelona coupe

Until the 1970s, most car badges used lettering, not type. The 1976–78 AMC Matador Barcelona may be an example of the latter, as the shapes appear to match Endowed Jones, a phototype bastardization of Times from around 1970.

The AMC Matador is a mid-size car built and marketed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1971 to 1978. … In 1976, a "Barcelona" option offered an alternative to the personal luxury cars offered by other automakers such as the Chrysler Cordoba and Chevrolet Monte Carlo. … The Barcelona included numerous comfort and appearance upgrades in addition to the extensive standard equipment that came on all Matadors. The special items were: individual reclining seats in velveteen crush fabric with woven accent stripes … two-tone paint, landau padded vinyl roof, opera quarter windows with accents, dual remote control mirrors painted body color, Barcelona medallion on glove box door and fenders … — Wikipedia

1977 Matador Barcelona coupe

1977 AMC Matador Barcelona II.

A rather unconventional use of Roger Excoffon’s Mistral on some heavy construction site machinery, spotted in The Hague, Netherlands.

SuperGrip is a product of Hultdins System AB, a Swedish manufacturer of grapples, chain saw systems and rotators for heavy equipment, established in 1928. Their North American division, Hultdins Inc., is based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

“Budnitz Bicycles are the result of founder, Paul Budnitz’s obsession with creating the lightest, fastest, and most elegant city bicycles in the world.”

The logo is set in Radio with a customized ‘z’.

Audio Consolette Model 2 brochure (amplifier shown)

In 1952, Saul Marantz launched his high-end audio company with the Audio Consolette preamplifier. The product used the typeface Metropolis on its faceplate and Davison Spencerian (in later editions), setting a typographic standard that the Marantz brand followed for at least 30 years. In fact, these typefaces (unsusual styles for audio components) are part of the reason Marantz products are visually distinct from their competitors. See these 1970s receivers, for example.

Incidentally, Marantz recently entered the iPod/iPhone dock market with a revival of the Consolette brand, but replaced the formal Spencerian with a contemporary brush script logo.

Audio Consolette Model 1 (1952 edition) sales sheet

Audio Consolette Model 1 (1952 edition) sales sheet

Audio Consolette Model 1 (1954 edition)

Audio Consolette Model 1 (1952 edition) on eBay

Audio Consolette Model 1 (1954 edition)

Audio Consolette Model 2 brochure

Model 3 Electronic Crossover

The Mastrena is built exclusively for Starbucks who began to roll it out to all of their locations around 2008. The logo is based on Magneto, a typeface which in turn was inspired by the logo of another appliance: a 1950s refrigerator.

A few days ago, Apple announced that the next version of the iPhone operating system would enable the hardware volume-up button to be used as a camera trigger, making it much easier to snap quick pics with a device that currently forces you to hunt for a shutter release on-screen. I believe this concept was pioneered by Camera+ in early versions, but Apple disabled the functionality in that app because it breaks their UI rules (no remapping of hardware buttons).

Apple/developer relationship debates aside, it’s a good idea and very welcomed by those of us who use the iPhone as their everyday camera. But it could also always be better. The volume button is still small, and its use encourages a less optimal orientation in which the camera lens is at the bottom right of the phone where your gripping hand often wants to be.

That’s where Red Pop comes in. Taglined as “the big red button for your iPhone camera”, Red Pop is just that: an aluminum and plastic grip that snaps into your iPhone via the dock connector and offers an inviting, touchable button for immediate shooting.

The Red Pop logo was designed by Aaron Draplin with brand direction from Red Pop founder Brendan Dawes. Draplin began with Fun City, a relatively new typeface by Roman Gornitsky which offers layerable variations on a simple geometric skeleton. But the key for Draplin was in the type’s finish. He has a soft spot for soft corners.

There’s just something inviting and approachable about rounded edges. There’s a certain whimsy to them, embracing an intentional shedding of sans serif rigidity. The product itself informed this direction. It’s just something you want to hold in your hand, both comfortable and soft to the touch. — Aaron Draplin

The official Red Pop website, using serving a webfont version of Housckha Rounded for most of the text.

To accompany the logo Dawes chose Nick Cooke’s Houschka Rounded. It reflects the main mark, but offers more conventional lettershapes suited for text, not to mention a lowercase. Houschka is a seldom-seen typeface with a style falling somewhere between the simplicity and geometry of Gotham Rounded and Proxima Nova Soft, and the more irregular, hand-lettering template based shapes of Bryant and Router. What it has that these other fonts don’t have is a huge bundle of stylistic alternates — some more usable than others. Houschka delivers the type throughout the Red Pop website as a webfont served directly by the site’s host.

Houschka felt fun and informal — something which is at the heart of the Red Pop brand. I also think it looks great used quite large, like we do particularly on the About section of the site. Red Pop is all about moments, and capturing those moments, and the graphic design is informed by that: short phrases and sentences that are simply moments, yet tell you all you need to know, or invite you to find out more. — Brendan Dawes

Illustrations on the website echo the weight and style of the type. One quibble: Houschka is spaced too tight, especially in text.

Update, Aug 18, 2012: Red Pop was renamed Popa and the founding company Beep Industries has since closed its doors.